The present invention relates to security labels, and more particularly to security labels particularly adapted for pharmaceutical containers to provide an irreversible indication of tampering.
Pharmaceutical label counterfeiting is becoming an increasingly frequent and dangerous problem. In one form of counterfeiting, the labels are removed from discarded authentic containers; and then the labels are reapplied to non-authentic containers containing a replica or other fake of the original product. While this problem is of particular concern to the pharmaceutical industry, this problem confronts a variety of other industries.
To address this counterfeiting problem, prior art labels have been developed that cannot be removed from the original container without breaking the label into many small pieces, or that leave portions of the label, adhesive, or ink behind on the bottle as an indication of tampering. Although these labels address the above-noted counterfeiting issue, they create another problem for the manufacturer during manufacture. Specifically, it sometimes is necessary for a manufacturer to remove and replace a label before shipment if the label has been applied incorrectly or if the label is found to contain incorrect information. Unfortunately, the destructible label makes removal difficult and expensive, and in some cases may damage the container rendering it unsuitable for sale.
Therefore, prior art labels either are susceptible to counterfeiting or create manufacturing difficulties.